I’m excited! This weekend, my boyfriend and I are going with a group of friends and sorority sisters to camp along the Kern River and also go rafting down the river! We’ve camped there before but we haven’t been rafting so it’ll be a new and hopefully fun experience for us.

I’m not above wearing makeup while camping but I don’t want to deal with having to take extra steps, other than washing my face, to remove mascara and stuff. As I’m slowly packing throughout the week and planning out what I’m bringing on the trip, it made me think about my “deserted island” makeup items (Wait, is it “deserted island”? I forgot what the phrase was). Basically, if I could only bring or keep one makeup item for the rest of my life, what would it be?

I’ve always known that if I was only allowed one item, it would definitely be something to enhance my eyebrows. I have really sparse brows and I fill them in every single day, unless I stay home all day (read how I fill them in here). While I’m more comfortable now with my brows since having them threaded regularly, I still prefer to fill them in when I’m out.

With that being said, the only makeup item I’m bringing is my Make Up For Ever Waterproof Eyebrow Corrector (review coming soon) and angled brush (does that count as two items?). This is a new purchase for me and I bought it because I wanted something waterproof in lieu of the eyeshadow that I usually use and find that it fades by the end of the day.

Today is my first day wearing it and based on finished look alone, I love it! It doesn’t look harsh and although I wouldn’t call it natural-looking, it doesn’t look too fake. I’ll have to see how it holds up after my workout tonight. Shade 03 is a little dark for my taste, so I mixed a tiny bit of Coastal Scents Color Corrector in white to lighten it up and the result is a much more natural color for my brows. I might cheat and bring the color corrector also, haha.

In my future review, I’ll talk about the waterproof-ness, how it holds up throughout a hot and sweaty day, swatches of the actual color and swatches of it mixed with the white color corrector.

Although I didn’t do a separate review on the Laura Mercier Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer, I included it because I’ve had Laura Mercier’s TM for a while. Laura Mercier is not my HG TM because I consider it more of a foundation than a tinted moisturizer. It gives great coverage but doesn’t contain any ingredients to help my skin. Also, I currently own the color “Sand” which is way too dark for my skintone at the moment so the SA gave me “Bisque” which is a little light but oxidizes enough to match my skintone later in the day.

Below, I have listed several important characteristics and the order in which the different tinted moisturizers rank.

Coverage (fullest):

Laura Mercier

Bobbi Brown

Tarte

Shiseido

Ingredients (spf, antioxidants):

Tarte

Bobbi Brown

Shiseido

Laura Mercier

Color (best color match):

Tarte

Shiseido

Bobbi Brown

Laura Mercier – Bisque

Laura Mercier – Sand

Finish (most matte and natural):

Bobbi Brown

Laura Mercier

Shiseido

Tarte

In general:

Bobbi Brown

Tarte

Laura Mercier – Bisque

Shiseido

Bobbi Brown ended up being my favorite and one that I will be purchasing the full size version of when my sample runs out. It doesn’t give as much coverage as Laura Mercier but it comes pretty close and it has antioxidants in it, which was important to me. Tarte has great beneficial ingredients for the skin and I bought the full size version because I couldn’t conveniently obtain a sample to test it out. While it is not my favorite, I plan to keep it and use it on days when it isn’t too hot or humid.

This review is a part of a series in which I tested out several tinted moisturizers to find my favorite one. If the comparisons post among the tinted moisturizers isn’t up by the time I post this review, then please check back within a day or two and I’ll have it up.

About the product: Bobbi Brown Tinted Moisturizer Oil Free has an SPF of 15 with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. It is a gel-based formula and contains Vitamins C and E. I emailed BB and asked for a list of ingredients but never received it.

Texture and Fragrance: The texture is gel-based but I didn’t find any difference between BB’s tinted moisturizer and any other tinted moisturizer when I feel it in my hands. It’s oil-free as you know so it’s not very moisturizing. When I spread it over my face, there’s a slight pull to the skin. As for fragrance, even after a few days of wearing this, I didn’t realize there was a smell to this until I read reviews on MakeupAlley. Many people claimed there was a horrid gasoline smell. I finally took a whiff of my sample and did have a gasoline-like smell but I am not sensitive to scent so it didn’t bother me. If you are sensitive, you may want to check it out at a store first.

Color and Coverage: I would generally describe my skin tone as medium or sometimes a light-medium. I was surprised when the SA matched me to “Light”. The undertone works great for my skin (yellow-based). “Light” really warms up the color on my face, almost flirting with the line of being too dark. I find this to be acceptable because it doesn’t oxidize. If anything, I think it adjusts to my skin color (or maybe I just get used to it, haha). The coverage is great, I would say medium for a tinted moisturizer or light for a foundation.

Finish:The finish is very natural but leaning more towards matte. The dry down time after application was fairly quick. By dry down time, I mean until my face isn’t sticky anymore. Because I have combination skin and this is an oil-free product, I found that my cheeks looked a bit dehydrated. The lines on my cheeks were more prominent than it would be if I had moisturizer on it.

Bobbi Brown versus Shiseido

Throughout The Day: This tinted moisturizer held up very well throughout the day. I stayed relatively matte/oil-free (I’m not that oily to begin with) and the color didn’t oxidize at all. I put this on at 4:30ish am and it looked fine throughout the whole day until I got home around 6pm.

How I apply it: When testing out this product, I applied CHANEL sunscreen then the Bobbi Brown tinted moisturizer and didn’t set it with powder. That gave me the results that I described above. I’ve also tried applying it over Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre on my cheeks and Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel on my t-zone. When testing it this way, the dry down time was much longer but I still didn’t look oily throughout the day.

Overall thoughts: As you can read from my comparisons and results post (will be posted soon), Bobbi Brown was the winner out of the four tinted moisturizes I tried. It had everything I was looking for: antioxidants, spf, good coverage and good color match. If you have oily skin or even normal/combination skin, this tinted moisturizer would be great because you can layer an oil-free moisturizer underneath. I do recommend you go to a counter to get color matched because the shades run pretty dark. Also, while you’re there, you should check to see if the smell bothers you. I love this tinted moisturizer!

This review is a part of a series in which I tested out several tinted moisturizers to find my favorite one. If the comparisons post among the tinted moisturizers isn’t up by the time I post this review, then please check back within a day or two and I’ll have it up.

About the product: Tarte Smooth Operator Tinted Moisturizer has an SPF of 20 with the help of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. It has a plethora of “skinvigorating” ingredients that are listed on their website that I linked above. The product excludes mineral oil and parabens, among other “bad” ingredients.

Texture and Fragrance: The texture is light, smooth and easy to spread. It is moisturizing but not overly so.

Color and Coverage: I picked up “Agent 10 – Formerly Conceal”. It’s very yellow-based which matches my skin tone well. At first glance, it seems a little light but once it’s spread out on my face, the color match is good. As for coverage, I find this to have very sheer coverage with one layer. The first day I used it, I put on a small layer. If I use a little more product, more coverage can be achieved without looking cakey, which I did the second day. I like to use minimal product in one pass so I’ll probably attain sheer coverage on most days. Check out this video where you can see that it covers pretty well if you use more product.

Finish: The finish is very dewy without looking oily. The complete dry down time takes over 3 hours but it doesn’t bother me. Because this has moisturizing properties, my cheeks look less dehydrated than if I was wearing an oil-free product. There is shimmer in this and I can see it on my face if I’m a few inches away from the mirror. However, if I’m a normal distance from the mirror, I generally can’t see the shimmer.

This is the first day when I didn't apply much. I've since found I can get more coverage by simply using more product (duh? lol)

Throughout The Day: This held up well throughout the day. Although my skin isn’t oily to begin with, this product didn’t make my skin any more oily than it would be without makeup. The coverage was so sheer so I wasn’t able to notice if any had faded but with that being said, I don’t usually have a problem with makeup fading that I can tell. *I’m adding this after I’ve already written this review: today was really warm and by the end of the day, I was a little oily. It makes me think it won’t hold up on hot, humid days but would be great for normal days or for the wintertime.*

Overall thoughts: I like this tinted moisturizer although it’s not my favorite. Ulta doesn’t give out samples and my local Sephora didn’t carry this so I ended up buying the full size from Ulta to try it out. I am going to keep it because it’s not bad and I don’t like returning products unless I absolutely hate it. I wouldn’t wear this on a hot day though because I can see it being a little too moisturizing for my skin if it’s hot and humid outside. It’s a good tinted moisturizer for the weekday at work. While I’ll never know if their “skinvigorating”products are working, I do appreciate that they’re included in the product. It has the antioxidants I was wanting plus many more.

This review is a part of a series in which I tested out several tinted moisturizers to find my favorite one. If the comparisons post among the tinted moisturizers isn’t up by the time I post this review, then please check back within a day or two and I’ll have it up.

About the product: Shiseido The Skincare Tinted Moisture has an SPF of 20 with its active sunscreen ingredients being titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. It is described as a “dewy, lightweight moisturizer that gives skin a hint of color and natural glow”.

Texture and Fragrance: The texture is a little moisturizing, not very creamy but still relatively easy to spread over the face.

Color and Coverage: The SA recommend “Medium 2” for me and it matches very well because of its yellow undertone. It’s not VERY yellow so if you had a neutral tone you can wear this as well. The coverage is sheer. It had more of a brightening effect than a covering effect.

Finish: The dry down time (until it was no longer sticky on my face) took over an hour. The finish was natural, leaning more towards dewy but I wouldn’t call it full-on dewy. Sometimes I noticed an initial white sheen that went away but sometimes I didn’t. I’m thinking it’s from the physical sunblock but it wasn’t as bad as putting on a mineral sunscreen.

Shiseido Tinted Moisture before and after (p.s. Latisse is doing wonders for my eyelashes!)

Throughout The Day: It held up relatively well throughout the day. I didn’t notice any fading, which I normally don’t have a problem with makeup fading anyway. It didn’t make me oily throughout the day. I didn’t notice any color change or any oxidation as the day went on, which is great.

How I apply it: When testing out this product, I applied CHANEL sunscreen then the Shiseido tinted moisturizer and didn’t set it with powder. That gave me the results that I described above.

Overall thoughts: I like this tinted moisturizer but not enough to buy the full sized product. It did look rather lovely on the face but just didn’t provide the coverage I wanted. This would be great for you if you have normal or normal/combo skin and could work for dry skin if you put on moisturizer underneath. If you are not looking for much coverage but would enjoy a brightening effect on your face, the Shiseido Tinted Moisture would be perfect.

I was reading my friend’s blog, Boo The Bootch, and I saw that she had posted a picture of us from the other night! Love, love, love. So now I have to post it too because I remember what a fun night we had and also I love our lipstick!!

NYX Fuchsia lip liner, MAC Girl About Town lipstick with MAC _____ lip gelee (I have to find out the name). I have a picture on my camera of us too but I was laughing hard and looking crazy in my picture. haha!

I absolutely love Girl About Town. It’s a great fuchsia/hot pink that complements my warm skin tone. I’ve had several hot pinks fail because they were too cool-toned. I usually wear it matte but that night I used Bootch’s (ok her name is Christina) lip gelee and it was so pretty!!

..my bangs need help..

p.s. while you’re visiting Christina’s blog, check out the videos she posted of Jonte Moaning.